How Your Choice of Holiday Lights Can Save Money and Energy

​As the holiday season nears and lights go up, heating and power bills tend to rise. Households tend to use a lot more energy in the colder months and a substantial part of that energy usage comes from lighting. 

Did you know that the US expends over six billion kilowatt hours on holiday lights annually? To put that in context, that’s more energy than the entire country of El Salvador uses in an entire year! So, what can you do to lower your monthly bills and reduce your carbon footprint while still keeping the holiday spirit? 

Here are couple tips to be energy smart this Holiday Season:

1. Unplug during the day

Putting your lights on a timer is a great first step. But unplugging them when the sun is still out is even better. Why? Because appliances still use energy when they are plugged in but not running, so you can save on your last energy bill of the year by unplugging your lights altogether! 

1. Switch to LEDs!

One of the easiest ways to save energy is by replacing your old holiday incandescent bulbs with LEDs. 

​LED bulbs are considerably more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs and are the better choice for holiday displays. You really do save money when you compare them string by string. A 100-light string of LEDs costs significantly less to run over the holiday season than a 25-light string of C9 incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs emit a large amount of energy as heat instead of light so more energy is required to light the bulbs and to keep them lit for longer periods of time. And not to get too alarmist, but this heat can even present a danger inside the house, especially with real Christmas trees. By contrast, the LED lights are cool to the touch!

Since LED lights require less energy, their lifetime can be up to three times that of incandescent bulbs. By switching to LEDs, you’ll have to buy new lights less frequently. Saving energy and saving money! That may be one of the best presents this holiday season.